ChatGPT-Briefing Note

Briefing Note:

ChatGPT is a general-purpose chatbot developed and launched on November 30, 2022 for public use by an American tech startup OpenAI. ChatGPT is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and utilises a Large Language Model (LLM) architecture called Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) developed by OpenAI that generates text based on a user’s prompt. A slew of AI-powered chatbot competitors such as Together, Google’s Bard and Anthropic’s Claude have launched since then and developers are creating open source alternatives as well.

OpenAI’s GPT series technology is based on generative artificial intelligence or generative AI technology which is a type of AI system capable of generating text, images, or other media in response to prompts. These systems use generative models such as large language models to statistically sample new data based on the training data set that was used to create them. Generative AI systems are now being trained on different formats of data like text, video, audio, images, computer code, etc to produce responses in those respective formats. Latest systems are capable of being trained on multiple formats of data simultaneously. For example, OpenAI’s GPT-4 accepts both text and image prompts. OpenAI’s DALL-E, Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion, Mid-journey Lab’s are all generative AI systems that produce images based on text prompts from users. GitHub Copilot powered by GPT-4 supports computer coding tasks by generating code and/or code explanation based on natural language prompts by the user.

With AI powered technologies like ChatGPT making rapid strides and capturing public imagination there is a growing recognition of the complex ethical, moral and policy challenges they pose. There is excitement over the beneficial use of these tools in sectors ranging from healthcare and travel to logistics, manufacturing and marketing. Simultaneously, there are also growing concerns over malicious use cases. A previous report by the Future of India Foundation on the ‘Politics of Disinformation’ noted how political and/or commercial agenda motivate the production and spread of organised misinformation. AI tools have the capacity to supercharge such agenda driven disinformation further distorting public discourse and adversely impacting election integrity in democratic societies. Questions have also been raised over intellectual property rights of creative artists whose work different AI product companies seem to be freely using to train their generative models. Italy has banned ChatGPT due to concerns over the latter’s collection and processing of massive amounts of personal data to train its algorithms.

AI’s impact on the future of work is of particular importance given its potential to disrupt traditional understanding of productivity, labour rights and social organisation. A research paper published by OpenAI on the impact of ChatGPT on US labour market found ‘that approximately 80% of the U.S. workforce could have at least 10% of their work tasks affected by the introduction of GPTs, while around 19% of workers may see at least 50% of their tasks impacted. The influence spans all wage levels, with higher-income jobs potentially facing greater exposure’[3]. A recent US-EU Trade and Technology Council report[4] noted that AI technology could make workers more productive, firms more efficient, and spur innovations in new products and services but could also automate existing jobs and exacerbate inequality and discrimination against workers. The report also noted that previous technological advances in automation have tended to affect “routine” tasks while AI has the potential to automate “nonroutine” tasks, exposing large new swaths of the workforce to potential disruption.

India has the largest youth population with millions of young people set to enter the workforce in the coming decade. As such, understanding and shaping the use of AI technologies to maximise our demographic dividend is the need of the hour. With India set to host the G20 this year with ‘Accelerated, Inclusive and Resilient Growth’ and ‘Technological Transformation and Digital Public Infrastructure’ identified as two of the six priorities areas, this is a perfect opportunity for India to build on the ‘Future of Work’ priority area from the 2018 G20 summit in Argentina and shape policy thinking around artificial intelligence technologies and the future of work not just in India but globally.

Check more on ChatGPT..

https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/05/chatgpt-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-ai-powered-chatbot/

https://openai.com/research/gpts-are-gpts

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/TTC-EC-CEA-AI-Report-12052022-1.pdf

ChatGPT and the Future of Work